- Chong Fah Cheong
-
Chong Fah Cheong Born 1946
SingaporeNationality Singapore Field Contemporary Sculpture Training Self-taught; Awards 1981: First Prize for Sculpture, Singapore Innovations in Art Exhibition
1982: Special Award, National Day Art Exhibition
1987: Certificate of Participation, National Museum Centenary Art Exhibition
1988: Merit Award, IBM Art Award Exhibition
1990: Merit Award, IBM Art Award ExhibitionChong Fah Cheong is a Singaporean sculptor known for many public sculptures in Singapore. Though he worked in a variety of styles from abstract to figurative, his name is identified with a series of figurative sculptures depicting the life of people living and working along the Singapore River.
Chong was born to a large family of a general practitioner. Since the age of four, he loved to draw and sketch, and displayed talent in art. In school this talent continued to shine, but he was never good with his academic subjects. At the age of 14, the young Chong decided to quit school after completing Form 3 (Year 10) education at the St. Joseph's Institution, to join the Lasalle Brothers novitiate in Penang. Chong spent the next 7 years with the teaching order, leading a cloistered life and to be trained as a teacher. In 1967, he returned to secular life and began his career as a school teacher in Teluk Anson in Malaysia. A year later, he left his job to read Social Science at the University of Singapore.[1]
In 2001 Chong was commissioned by Wing Tai Holdings to create An Overture, a 3,700 tonne jade sculpture to be installed at the courtyard of the House of Tan Yeok Nee. The $80,0000 commission work began on February 14 that year, and unveiled at the House on July 13, 2001 to complement the finishing of the restoration work on the 115-year-old national monument, which was completed in September 2000 at a cost of $12 million.[2]
Contents
Gallery
-
The First Generation (2000)
Size: various
Medium: Bronze
Collection: Fullerton Hotel
Location: Cavenagh Bridge, Singapore
The sculpture was created as part of a series of sculptures by various sculptors, in the Open Air Interpretative Centre project by the Singapore Tourism Board. Chong's sculpture was the first to be unveiled on December 31, 2000.[3] -
Another Day (The Coolies)
(2000)
Size: 150 x 160 x 130cm
Medium: Bronze
Collection: Private collection
Location: West wing of the Singapore Art Museum
Another Day immortalises the coolie - that archetype of the labourer or workman of the bygone days. In contrast to the coolies known historically, Chong's coolies are more those that still perform manual labour in warehouses and bumboats along the Singapore River in the 1970s and 1980s, and is today an extinct scene in urban Singapore. This sculpture was also created for the exhibition at the Singapore Tourism Board pavilion during the Expo 2000 held in Frankfurt, Germany.
Major exhibitions
Dates Title Location 1981 Woodscape Alpha Gallery
Singapore1982 Woodscape II Leon & Joel Galleries
Singapore1984 Exhibition Citibank
Singapore1985 Exhibition Alpha Gallery
Singapore1992 Sculptures in Wood, Stone & Bronze
(August 22 - August 27)Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts
SingaporeOpenings Strand Gallery
Merritt, British ColumbiaAugust 23 -
August 28, 1994Dreamcatcher The Substation
Singapore1996 Prime Elements
(May 7 - May 16)Fort Canning Centre Gallery
SingaporeRecent Works
(October 12 - October 20)The Substation
SingaporeSeptember 19 -
October 20, 1999Handmade: Shifting Paradigms
(Group show)Singapore Art Museum
SingaporeReferences
- ^ Geok Boi, Lee (April 2004). "Felled trees got him sculpting". Singapore Magazine (Singapore International Foundation).
- ^ Chong, Vince (2001-07-19). "Monument gets new jade sculpture". Singapore: The Business Times, Executive Suite. p. 20.
- ^ Sim, Melissa (2002-09-02). "Be on the lookout for small scenes of life by the Singapore River in the past the next time you go by". Singapore: Straits Times Life!.
External links
Categories:- 1946 births
- Singaporean people of Chinese descent
- Singaporean sculptors
- Living people
-
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.